Economy
Following California’s lead after 1996’s Proposition 215, medical marijuana is now legal in 14 states plus Washington, DC. On November 2, three more states will vote on medical marijuana. In California, voters will consider legalizing growing or possessing pot for recreational use, and many cities will vote on pot taxes and dispensary regulations. Our interactive map explains what’s legal where, and who will be voting on new pot laws next week.
These marijuana numbers and statistics can provide an important general overview of what our country is facing with pot and Proposition 19, the California measure to legalize marijuana on the November 2nd ballot. To take you through trivia about drug arrests, marijuana use, and our attitudes about legalization, Oakland North built this interactive overview of doobie data.
“Back in the day, your mom made your Halloween costume,” says Samantha Stevens, a filmmaker and event planner, and the creator of Thursday night’s D.I.Y. Emporium: A Benefit for Rock Paper Scissors. “That was so much better than the little dinosaur costume you would buy at Wal-Mart.” The Emporium is a combination showcase and sale of clothing, jewelry, hats and homemade costume pieces, some of which would make a mother blush.
Voting yes on Prop 23 means temporarily suspending (saying no to, that is) Assembly Bill 32. That state legislation, also called AB 32 and the Global Warming Solutions Act, was signed into law in 2006 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Click through to see an interactive graphic that provides a quick guide to some of the pro and con arguments and predicted effects of this controversial proposition.
Two dozen toddlers played on a jungle gym outside an Oakland childcare center late Tuesday morning as State Schools Chief Jack O’Connell led a press conference inside, decrying the failure of his efforts to save childcare funding for low-income families.
In Oakland, the school district had to cut $122 million from its budget this year, and teachers have not gotten a raise in nearly a decade. Some folks are trying to change that. They’ve put a measure on the ballot that would create a 54-cent per day property tax to raise teachers’ salaries. To learn more about how the measure would work and what the benefits to Oakland students might be, Lillian Mongeau caught up with one of the measure’s biggest champions, Jonathan Klein of Great Oakland Public Schools.
Oakland mayoral candidate and local businessman Greg Harland hopes to address the majority of Oakland’s problems—high crime, unattended street maintenance, and increased parking fees and fines—using business sense.
After more than two decades of debate and a recent sprint for the final bits of funding, on Wednesday a group of local, state, and federal officials broke ground to mark the start of construction on BART’s long-awaited Oakland Airport Connector. A dozen local political officials donned hardhats and gathered around a mound of dirt tidily piled in a corner of the station’s parking lot; in unison, they sank the golden blades of their ceremonial shovels into the earth.
Grab some pizza and a pint—if J Moses Ceaser has his way, the Parkway Theater might be showing movies in Oakland again as early as next year.
The only twist: The Parkway may not be able to return to its original location.